My husband and I are planning our next cruise. One of the ports for the cruise we are considering is Montego Bay. We have never been and I have heard mixed reviews about Jamacia. Does anyone have any advice or ideas of what would be a safe and fun to do while in this port?

Most people will do the Dunn River Falls tour on their first visit to Jamaica. The ship will be offering other tours on the island as well. I'd recommend you do one through the ship, so you won't be worrying about getting back to the ship on time.

The Jamaica Tourism board has been working very hard to overcome the stereotypes people have about their island. I have been to Jamaica many, many, times on cruises and last October spent four days there at an all-inclusive. Jamaica has a lot to offer if people just give it a chance. Does it have some problems? I don't know too many places that don't have some type of problem. Jamaicans are very friendly and welcoming people.

You might consider a day pass to Sandals or Rose Hall. Dunn's River Falls is closer to Ocho Rios, but a tour over there would offer you some of the beautiful Jamaican scenery. I, too, enjoy Jamaica. It is a beautiful island, with a lot to offer. However, I would not venture off on my own there. A ship's tour or an all-inclusive area would be my advice.

Daisey....We have spent a lot of time in Jamaica over the years and We enjoy it tremendously....Our trips have been by cruiseship and by aircraft.....We have always found Jamaica absolutely delightful and have learned that firm and gentle "No's" to any Panhandler has worked quite well if they annoyed Us. The Jamaicans are quite friendly and helpful with a wonderful sense of humor and a great pride in their country. We travel there quite fearlessly..it is quite safe!

If You wish to get a great feel for the country and the people...May I suggest a gentle rafting tour down the Martha Brae River...always a delight and quite affordable....and a great way to pass away the hours!!

We docked at Mobay in May this year and we did the Croydon Plantation tour. It was great! We booked thru Carnival online prior to the cruise and we were 100% pleased with this tour. The bus ride was about an hour and 15 minutes thru the beautiful country and we saw lots of the island. The plantation was beautiful and we got to taste lots of fruit and had a delicious lunch! Our tablemates rafted on the Martha Brae and they said it was relaxing, so there is a lot to choose from. Enjoy whatever you choose! By the way, we did not have a single local try to sell us anything, since we went thru the terminal and right onto the tour bus.

Earlier this year there were dire reports about the new facility at Falmouth regarding illegal activities and pushy panhandlers. I was quite pleased with our tour of the town and saw many passengers wandering the streets. I heard no reports of trouble. The Jamaican people we met were quite pleasant to us. I admit to being one of those with a low threshold for pushy vendors and panhandlers, so it was quite refreshing.

Still, it is a jumping off point for tours as the town is nothing special. My biggest disappointment was that the 'secure' port facility is not even close to being finished. At best only 50% of it is complete.

Dunn River Falls is a great tour and a popular one, but as Penny said it is better if you do it from Ochos Rios. From Mo Bay its a very long ride to the falls over some very rough roads. It would consume your entire day and it is much more expensive because of the travel involved. Also you need to be in pretty good shape to climb the falls. They claim you can climb at your own pace but when we went they were basically putting people in a conga lien holding hands and dragging you up the falls. It wa fine for us but we had my mother in law with us and she has very weak knees and had to bail from the climb about half way up. I was exhausted from lifting her up to the next rock....

Very true, Jim, it is quite a climb and they do not go at the slowest pace. We did the conga line, too. We did stop and have our pictures taken in a few areas, so that gave the stragglers a chance to catch up. We did have some in our group bail, too.